hey guys Im considering taking a trip up to gander mountain today its about an hour drive from where i live and I was wondering if they stock/carry military surplus rifles and surplus ammo? In particular im looking for turk, yugo, german mausers and russian and finn mosins. I remember reading about people finding good deals on surplus guns but i cant remember if it was at big5 or gander mountain?
thanks in advance

Yeah, the one in Joliet, Il has a Chilean Mauser for $350, a chopped up K31 (no magazine, either, essentially a single shot rifle with a hole where and integral mag used to be!) for $350 and a Carcano Carbine (same as the K31, no magazines/clips for it, these use those enbloc clips, right?) for $300. They wouldn't budge on the prices of any of them for me. I was pretty appalled, consider the same Mauser is $100 through J&G, a better condition K31 can be had from Simpson's for $150 and Carcanos are usually dirt cheap. I've heard good things about Gib5's surplus toys, Gander doesn't do any distro for Surplus, so their surplus rifles are usually trade-ins that they paid $50-100 for and then turn around and sell for $300-350. Big5, IIRC, does distro some surplus rifles.

__________________
-liberal gun nut = exception to the rule-
-1.24274238 miles, because Russians don't need scopes-
-Gun control was the Klan's favorite law, how can you advocate a set of laws designed to allow the denigration of a people?-

There is a large gun auction here in Mattoon Illinois on new years day....several surplus rifles .....600 + guns sell in one day. My son and I always go and have a blast looking at the guns and buying our Christmas present !!! Check it out at Bauer Auctions.com lots of pics and a sale bill.
See ya there !!!

In Mattoon? I might be interested in that, depending on what christmas ends up like for me. I actually have no idea where mattoon is, I live in Central, Il, how far away would that be from me?

Unfortunately, given the existence of a Big 5 within the OP's driving range, I doubt he'd be able to make it.

__________________
-liberal gun nut = exception to the rule-
-1.24274238 miles, because Russians don't need scopes-
-Gun control was the Klan's favorite law, how can you advocate a set of laws designed to allow the denigration of a people?-

I'll put it this way. The last time I was at a Gander Mountain they had one M44, mismatched, that looked like somebody tied it to the back of their pickup and dragged to the store. They wanted 150 bucks. The going rate at J&R at the time was 80 bucks. Guess where I got mine from?

It weren't Gander.

__________________
Some people think I'm paranoid because I have guns. If I have guns, what do I have to be paranoid about?

Was it Gander? Oh wait! You already said no... damnit, I give up. Your riddles are too much!

Yeah, I really don't like them. They had a Taurus .22 Revolver 990 used for $400. I told them "I can order this from impact for $20 less, new." And the salesman said, "plus a $25 transfer fee," to which I said "so I'd pay an extra $5 for the warranty through taurus AND get a new gun?" his response "but you can buy this one now." Needless to say, didn't buy. Went back a month later, sure enough: gone.

Their new guns are pretty competitive regarding price, but their used aren't. I still just buy from small shops.

edit: what I neglected to mention was that a shop near my apartment had/has a Taurus similar to that one, only with a tracker barrel, for only a few bucks more than Gander wanted for the used 990.

__________________
-liberal gun nut = exception to the rule-
-1.24274238 miles, because Russians don't need scopes-
-Gun control was the Klan's favorite law, how can you advocate a set of laws designed to allow the denigration of a people?-

You just have to wait till something come's in at Gander Mtn. they change their stock weekly. The surplus rifles are way over priced, much of what the have on the rack is cheaper at other sport shops cheaper. The used rifles and shotguns are where the payoff is. I have a Winchester model 12 16ga. in layaway right now, the hang tag said Winchester 1300, go figure. I have seen some very good guns go for prices below what you find at the auction site's.

Tamara: you mention an 1895... and actually, that makes me wonder: is that different than the 1908 Chilean? Cause, then I may have to redact one of my prior statements I've made.

Also, are you the one with that awesome blog?

__________________
-liberal gun nut = exception to the rule-
-1.24274238 miles, because Russians don't need scopes-
-Gun control was the Klan's favorite law, how can you advocate a set of laws designed to allow the denigration of a people?-

Thomme.....Mattoon is in central Ill bout 40 miles south of Champaign....did you look at the sale bill ? I just got on Yahoo and searched for Bauer auctions and it came up.......gonna sell 600 guns in one day.....I have went in the past and it's always a good time....what a way to break in the new year.....looking at all those cool guns in one room....

I'm not familiar with any M1908 Chilean Mauser. The M1895 was a small-ring rifle that was pretty much the same as the Spanish M1893. It was replaced by a Gew. 98 clone made by Steyr that was known as the M1912.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thomme

Also, are you the one with that awesome blog?

Well, I have a blog, yes, although how awesome it is is up to the reader.

Woops, I'm sorry, Tamara, I'm mixing up the Brazilian with the Chilean, it's a Brazilian 1908 7x57mm on sale at J&G and a Chilean 1895 (I believe, I could be mistaken) at Gander in Joliet. My bad. Sorry to confuse. And, yes, the Blog's name is right in your signature, how did I not notice that!?

And MillBilly, I'll check that out. It sounds like a great time and it's just about an hour away from me. Edit: chances are, I'll be ringing in the new year with a ton of champaign in Chicago... which isn't going to add up to me making it there by 9am. Have fun, though. Wish I could make it.

__________________
-liberal gun nut = exception to the rule-
-1.24274238 miles, because Russians don't need scopes-
-Gun control was the Klan's favorite law, how can you advocate a set of laws designed to allow the denigration of a people?-

An even better Gander Mountain story. They had a case of used handguns. I was looking at a Ruger SR9(?)/ They wanted 459 bucks for it. The next case over had a brand new one on sale for $439. I asked the guy behind the counter about it and he said corporate set the prices on all the used guns, he could not do a thing about it.

And I see them NIB at auctionarms and Gunbroker for less than $400.

__________________
Some people think I'm paranoid because I have guns. If I have guns, what do I have to be paranoid about?

I might be wrong about them not being a distro for surplus: I stopped in on the joilet store and found they have about 4 more 7mm Mausers (labelled "Ludwig, Berlin 1892, IIRC), a couple Mosins and the same old K-31. Similar prices to what I quoted earlier, around $300 for all, 'cept the Mosin for $170. Their "surplus" pistols were three Sig P6s, 2 Polish Maks and a couple of other wierd ones I see popping up on the usual surplus sites, so they might be a surplus distro.

__________________
-liberal gun nut = exception to the rule-
-1.24274238 miles, because Russians don't need scopes-
-Gun control was the Klan's favorite law, how can you advocate a set of laws designed to allow the denigration of a people?-

in the words of Gander employees "factor in FFL fees, any you're paying more for a cheaper gun." (yeah, right... 80 + 10 + 25 = 115, not 180)

__________________
-liberal gun nut = exception to the rule-
-1.24274238 miles, because Russians don't need scopes-
-Gun control was the Klan's favorite law, how can you advocate a set of laws designed to allow the denigration of a people?-

I bought a P1 from GM once. $239 plus tax. Came with 2 mags and a holster. Decent deal, but not spectacular.

I stop in now and then to see what they have, but thats the only firearm I ever bougth there. Last time I was there they must have had at least 100 used shotguns for sale, and very little in the way of anything else used.

__________________
bob

Disclaimers: I am not a lawyer, cop, soldier, gunsmith, politician, plumber, electrician, or a professional practitioner of many of the other things I comment on in this forum.

The local GM here had 6 P1s for $199. I didn't jump on the deal fast enough and they were gone within a week. Most of the time it's just the occasional turn-of-the-century Mauser and the 91/30s and M-44s.

Quote:

I told them "I can order this from impact for $20 less, new." And the salesman said, "plus a $25 transfer fee," to which I said "so I'd pay an extra $5 for the warranty through taurus AND get a new gun?" his response "but you can buy this one now."

Quote:

in the words of Gander employees "factor in FFL fees, any you're paying more for a cheaper gun." (yeah, right... 80 + 10 + 25 = 115, not 180)

Why in the world are you engaging the GM sales people in the price debates? They don't set the price and this is their place of employment - it's like them coming to your place of employment, looking around and saying "yep, I could get this product or service cheaper elsewhere..."

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